House Education Committee introduces bill to elminate field trips

Last week,the House Education Committee introduced legislation that change funding for school trips and extracurricular events--HB 118.

HB 118, also sponsored by Rep. Bob Nonini (R-Coeur d’Alene), Sen. John Goedde (R-Coeur d’Alene), House Speaker Lawerence Denney (R-Midvale), and Senate President Pro Tem Robert Geddes (R-Soda Springs), would significantly change the way school districts are reimbursed for student transportation costs. Under current Idaho law, school districts are reimbursed 85% of the previous year’s bussing costs for transporting students to and from school and field trips. In effect, for every dollar a school district expends on bussing students, the state reimburses the district 85 cents the following year.

This legislation would do several things. First, it would eliminate reimbursement for student field trips. Second, it would require districts with high populations of students in centralized areas to use a different, less financially advantageous, formula for determining transportation reimbursement. Third, the state reimbursement would drop from 85% to 50% for student transportation costs, it would change reimbursement for virtual charter schools from 85% to 70%, and finally, it would reduce reimbursement for charter schools in the initial year of operation from 80% to 60%.

According to the bill sponsors, the changes outlined in HB 118 would potentially save the state millions of dollars. According, to IEA, the more likely scenario is that the savings the state would realize would be shifted to local school districts.